In the left hand, the motor is in the wrist socket and the rotation of the forearm because in a proper hitting procedure, they work in unison. The left thumb acts as the fulcrum that of course moves the club. This is why you want the left thumb down the right side of the shaft. So then you are going to have pressures in the fingers of the left hand, and an opposing force - fulcrum with the left thumb.
Same thing in the right hand just that instead of it being the left thumb, you use the right forefinger. Personally I have big calluses on the middle two fingers of my right hand because I really crank the forearm rotation against those points.
I don’t have any callus on the right hand heel pad as Homer suggested as the #1 pressure point… so that pretty much agrees with my argument that right arm thrust is extremely overrated.
If you want to know where your pressure points are in your hands… just look at your calluses. If you want to know where they should be, then you need to look at the hands of a good player who’s using a similar grip, similar hand size, similar grip diameter, and of course one that is hitting if you are going in that direction as you should in my opinion.
The nice thing about working with an impact bag is that the hands are going to gravitate toward a position of support, because the forces are so much more magnified than just hitting a golf ball. If you do the work one handed, then it’s pretty much a slam dunk. Later on, as forearm rotation develops, at some point you are going to want more and more of it… so you’ll figure out at that point that a weaker grip will offer more range of motion… but if you don’t have the strength, then it won’t work, so you have to grip the club stronger.
I rarely mess with students grips after they have been drilling bag work over some time… but on occasion I will make an adjustment if I see they are really shut at the top, and seem to have the rotational strength to handle more clubface rotation. I don’t believe in a stock grip for all people.
Great post! REAL WORLD STUFF at the highest level . . . Interesting to hear that even a player at the highest level fights what us chops fight with incorrect info . . . just maybe exceptionally more proficient at it and much more talented . . . heck a lot of reasons that I’ll never know . . .
Bottom line . . . .I just want to tee it up and be able to sniff par and have fun controlling the golf ball . . . .
I picked out this portion of the post because I soooooooooooo identify with it . . . . I have spent I can imagine as much time as anybody trying to figure out the stuff in that book . . . . I typed the freakin’ thing into a word file . . . took 3 months . . . about got me divorced too . . . . what’s her name STILL brings up “that dang yellow book and your yellow book secret society of buddies . . . you are a WEIRDO” . . . the weirdo part . . . certainly not debatable. I hit balls practicing a flat left wrist bent right wrist elbow seeking navel snap release FOR HOURS AND HOURS in my basement until 1 or 2 in the morning . . . I could ACTUALLY DO what Doyle prescribed . . . I hit balls in my apartment until all hours of the night . . . actually ripped up a 3 foot square hole in my carpet . . . so if you turned up at my apartment you’d walk in and be like “dude . . . why can I see the concrete in your shag???”(somehow I manged to get my full security deposit back??) . . . I hit balls in the freakin snow at a range that was heated until 11pm closing and they’d have to run me off . . . I MIGHT break 80 if I chipped and putted like a mad man . . .
To your point about visiting the left side of the course . . . I disagree with that . . . because if you do that crap enough . . . you end up on BOTH FREAKIN SIDES!!! I remember one practice session at my range that I could play jingle bells by hitting the tin roof on the maintenance shed just to the right of the range . . .thank goodness all the cats were out mowing the rough or somebody may be D.E.A.D. from my G.O.L.F.
I don’t mind putting in the work . . . in fact I LOVE IT . . . but I just want to put in work on the RIGHT STUFF . . .
Question: DO YOU THINK A NORMAL NON-SPAZZ TYPE PERSON CAN BE TAUGHT TO BE A SUB-6 HANDICAPPER GIVEN THE RIGHT CONCEPTS AND ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT PRACTICING THE RIGHT STUFF?
I believe the answer is YES . . . However . . . I haven’t tasted any of my own dawg food at this point . . . I feel like I’m close though.
I always have three calluses…all on my right hand. The biggest callus is on my index or forefinger located in the first joint next to my palm, which is no doubt caused by applying target-ward leverage or pressure against the grip and/or due to impact with the ball/turf. The next biggest callus is on my ring finger in the second joint, which is more on the side of the finger that faces my middle finger and is no doubt caused by the force from me either pulling downward or CF pulling outward. The other callus is on the middle of my middle finger in the first joint. I do [also] have a fourth callus on the side of my ring finger at the 2nd/3rd joint caused by rubbing friction against the side of my gloved left-hand forefinger, which reminds me of the round/raised bump one gets on the top-side of the 3rd joint from using a pencil or pen a lot, but I don’t consider this particular callus to be caused directly by swing pressure but instead by movement friction.
I think you are located in Thomasville, right? If so, then I suspect you’ve played Tanglewood, Bermuda Run, Salem Glen, Meadowlands, Oak Valley, Greensboro National, Bryan Park, etc., as well as many of the fine courses around the Pinehurst/Southern Pines area. That’s a nice golf area. I love the tall trees and elevation changes with the rolling hills.
Yes sir! Many of those are my old haunts pre-domestication and offspring! Oak Hollow is a good course there too High Point NC . . . . cheap too. Holla if you are slumming and we’ll get together!
I hope to find that out very soon, but I think the answer is yes. I used to be a 6 before I moved to the US, decided to try TGM with level wrists’ address and the whole works and the handicap skyrocketed to double digits. But now I’m back at 6 and hopefully on my way down still. I had a touch down on 5.6, went up to 6 again but about a week ago I had one of the three best rounds ever. The geometry and the pivot I bring to the course these days aren’t any better than what I used to have (I think). On the contrary, the module #1 has been a bit disturbing on the full swing from time to time. But I’ve had a few good times out there and besides it is much easier to save the shot even when something is a little off. The difference is that I’ve learned to use my trailing hand and arm a little better and my leading hand and arm a lot better. When the swing is off, I just focus on swinging the clubs and the hands, and that saves the shot much better now than it used to do. I am having mor FIRs and GIRs than ever. And I’ve just started with the module work. My hands are much more in command over the club now than ever before and that makes a huge difference for consistency.
Sweet! Glad to hear it’s working well . . . . I’m not exactly sure what module 1 is 100% . . . but I kinda have been doing “bucket’s something like module 1 sounds like” from reading here . . . .it’s freakin’ awesome I think . . . . I love the idea of training the motions at home away from the course and a ball. Makes great sense. I remember practicing jump shots before I went to sleep in bed . . . form shooting basketball at the ceiling with left and right hand . . . to this day I can still shoot pretty proficiently with my left hand from all that training . . . but if I try to throw a football left handed . . . I look like a doofus mouth breathing chick. I think this is a game changer on practice . . . even though I’m sure I’m not doing it 100% correct. The concept is awesome.
I started with TGM hitting about 8 years ago as a struggling golfer, I got to around a 7 index and then started hitting pretty bad shots and couldn’t keep off the left side of the course. I overdid the cross line angle of attack idea and was getting way under plane, and had no pivot, just tried to fire the right arm with a flat left wrist. Only way I could keep from going left was to chicken wing the finish, aka Arnold Palmer or JIm Thorpe.
I’ve been reading Lag’s threads closely and started trying his idea of a flat shoulder turn and dropping the hands into your right pocket. Friday in 50 degree weather with 20 mph winds, I shot a rock solid 74 that could have been better if I could putt. I thought I would be coming over the top, but I’m hitting low sizzlers with a slight fade. I know I’m not doing everything lag teaches, and am strongly considering the modules as I’d like to get to a scratch level. Just need to get a comfort level that I can learn online, as I typically like hands on coaching.
right now, I just turn my right shoulder over my left foot and feel like I drop a firm right wrist into the ball.
Ri
A flat rotation with the shaft feeding out of the right hip pocket with resisting pressure in the right foot is ideal. This is the essence of a pivot driven hit, because there is only one way to do it… strong rotation. It’s what the greats do, and you can do it to. This is what I teach, and demonstrate in my own swing. It works.
At some point, you have to make a decision to work on your swing or not. Groove what you have or learn to groove something better.
My thought is… if you are going to work on your swing… why not work on great stuff, that is proven and time tested by the greatest strikers?
What I have been trying to do here at ABS is clarify what is really important, get right to the heart of the matter, and help students filter out the the relevant from the irrelevant. Understanding hitting vs swinging is a huge part of that. It’s not that all other instruction is wrong, just a lot of it is protocol incompatible.
I don’t think Homer in TGM did a very good job of explaining the incompatible component combinations. Suggesting 24 componets and 144 (I forget the exact #) of variations leaves millions of possible correct combinations. I strongly disagree with this suggestion.
